Oedipus' Struggle with Fate and Free Will

Summary: This essay is about the irony devices that Sophocles uses in Oedipus the King to show Oedipus's struggle battling with free will and fate.

In our world today, fate and free will remains the biggest mystery of all; is everything we do controlled or do we have the freedom of choice? In the story "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles, the author uses the idea of fate and free will to explain the struggle of Oedipus's life. Fate and free will is explained as; fate is controlled by an outside supernatural force, and there is no way of controlling it. Free will is when each of us is responsible and controls all aspects of our own life. The author of "Oedipus the King" uses ironic devices to convey a tragic attitude toward the struggle of fate and free will.

The city of Thebes has been cursed by a plague caused by an unclean being that murdered Laius. While in despair, Oedipus cursed the murderer into exile. "I curse that murderer; if he is...